January 24, 2017•Update: January 25, 2017
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Residents of the Balkans region – especially Bosnia and Herzegovina – needing medical attention are finding treatment in Turkey an attractive option thanks to the quality, professional services offered, according to officials at local healthcare providers.
Ilyas Benveniste, patient services manager at Turkey’s Acibadem Health Group International, told Anadolu Agency that international health tourism emerged in the late 19th century when people could not get treatment and diagnosis services in their own countries and traveled abroad to more advanced healthcare centers in Europe and the U.S.
"Since Balkan countries are smaller in terms of population, health-oriented investments can be inadequate for rare diseases, so we often treat patients with unfamiliar and untreatable diagnoses,” said Benveniste.
Benveniste said patients with cancer, needing organ transplants or high-tech treatment, children, and patients with rare illnesses are often being treated abroad.
Benveniste said the Acibadem Hospitals International Patient Services Directorate operates in more than 50 countries, including Balkans-region Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia Herzegovina.
Saying that every year more and more Balkan patients are seeking medical treatment in Turkey, Benveniste said they are continuing to offer diagnosis and treatment with integrity.
Emina Ihtijarevic, the Sarajevo representative of Turkey’s Medical Park Hospitals Group, told Anadolu Agency that many patients from the Balkans seek treatment in Turkey.
"Medical Park has been operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina for a year-and-a-half, and supports both patients and doctors," Ihtijarevic said.
Medical Park has representatives in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia, said Ihtijarevic.
Saying that some 8 million Balkan patients are being treated each year in Turkey, Ihtijarevic said, "Bosnian and Herzegovinian patients generally choose Turkey for treatment in neurology, Parkinson’s, oncology, cardiology, vascular diseases, and orthopedic areas."
Ihtijarevic also said medical tourism in Turkey has shown great growth and improvement and that Turkey’s health institutions offer world-class treatment and services.
*Reporting by Lejla Biogradlija; Writing by Didar Yusra Dilruba Oz
